We Are So Dead
by bluelove22
Summary: I made this story for my friends. I own everything, except for the occasional anime/cartoon/ect. references. I find it good.  :D    no flames please


_**I OWN THIS STORY, BUT NOT THE REFERENCES TO ANYTHING!**__ (ex: Danny Phantom is timeless or Kira (Light) is awesome!)_

***LINE BREAK!***

We. Are. So. Dead.

-Kale and Kile-

"Run! Run run run run run run run!" I yell as my brother and I see one of our school enemies. Just before they can notice us, we squeeze pass other kids and make our way out of the school.

"That was close." My brother Kale breathes as we sit down in the bus. He and I are twins with matching short black hair and bright green eyes. We actually are complete look-alikes, both tall on somewhat skinny. However we don't get mistaken often like you may think, since you can tell by what we wear who we are. Personally, I wear a lot of dark colors, while Kale wears any. And our personalities are somewhat different too.

Being a twin can be fun sometimes, it makes us a lot of friends. However, that also means we have an equivalent number of enemies. It's quite easy to make fun of us.

"It was." I reply, grabbing Kale's backpack from him and taking out his IPod.

"Hey, you have your own." He swipes it out of my hand.

"Yeah, but I accidentally left it in my locker."

He sighs, but hands me one of the headphones. "Kile, next time leave it in your backpack, you always forget it when it's in your locker."

"Fine!" I answer dramatically.

On the bus ride home, I start singing along with the music. Kale shoots me an annoyed glance, but otherwise does nothing.

A moment later, I am tapped on the shoulder. Shifting in my seat my eyes meet those of Erin's. She's one of the closest friends my brother and I have. Erin has brown flowing hair that barely reaches her shoulders and dull hazel eyes.

"Hi-ya Kile, what's up?" She asks, her head popping out from over the seat.

I take the head phone in my ear out and shove it in Kale's other ear, returning it. "Not much, how are you?" I ask as Kale prepares to hit me for hurting his ear.

Erin chuckles softly as my brother's hand meets the side of my head. "I'm just fine." She replies.

"That's good." As you might be starting to notice, I'm not much of a conversationalist. Talking is just not my thing, since I tend to make an idiot out of myself.

"Yeah, so hey, there's this dance this Saturday… it's supposed to be really awesome. There's going to be a talent show, a fashion show, food and refreshments, and in the gym a DJ. The DJ is probably the best part though, because his stand thing has all these flashing lights, a bubble machine, and a confetti blaster! It's going to be freaking amazing! So, umm… are going to go?" She looks at me questionably.

I shrug, "Maybe, I can ask my parents if I can go." Turing to Kale and tapping him on the shoulder, I continue, "Do you think mom would let us go to the dance?"

He also shrugs. "How should I know?" Then he adds, "I'm ninety percent sure it'll be a yes, bro."

I turn back to Erin and nod. "I think it's a yes."

"That's good." She smiles.

"We have to dress up right?" I ask.

She gives me a look that says: 'What do you think?'

"Okay, so I'm going to have to find dress pants… and a dress shirt, maybe some shoes too. I think my mom has my nice clothes somewhere." I always seem to lose things, or forget them… it's a trait of mine.

"Nice…" Erin says, and then notices it's her stop. "See you guys tomorrow!"

"Bye!" I shout as she leaves. Kale manages a small wave.

I stare out the window, watching the trees as the bus passes by them. September had ended four days ago, making today the fifth of October. Leaves were already beginning to change, littering the ground with colors of yellow, red, and orange.

"Mom, is it okay if Kale and I go to a dance this Saturday?" I request at dinner.

My dad, who almost starts choking on his steak, answers my question. "You guys want to go to a dance? That's wonderful! And your mother thought my two boys weren't social enough."

"Honey," my mom interrupts, "that was you who said that."

He rolls his eyes, "And your point is?"

My brother and I laugh. Our dad acts more like a kid than an adult, but that's a reason why he's so cool.

"What's this dance for? School started less than a month ago." My mom inquires.

"It's so that everyone can have a good time and meet new people I think." I answer. "It'll be a good thing, what with Kale coming along."

"Whoa whoa, hold on a second!" Kale objects. "Why do I have to go?"

"One: because I need the moral support, two: because you're my twin, and three: because I said you are." I say matter-of-factly.

As to the real reason Kale doesn't want to come to the dance, is because he doesn't like people very much, they unnerve him. But of course, he gives in.

"Fine…" he grumbles.

I pull off a triumphant smile and continue eating dinner.

-The Pen Incident-

The next day, before class, I tell Erin I am allowed to go to the dance Saturday.

"That's great!" She exclaims, walking into Geometry with me.

"I know, and Kale is coming too." We sit down in our seats, which are in the front of the room.

The final bell rings and last minute students sprint into the room.

"Okay class, settle down!" Our teacher shouts, trying to be heard over the noise of twenty five talking freshmen. A few students stopped talking, but at least ten were still yelling and messing around.

"Well, if you're not listening it's your loss. Kids, open up to page seven forty two. I'm passing out your study guide, which it due by the end of class for a completion grade." He then proceeded to pass them out before making way to his desk.

"Do you want to work with me?" Erin asks.

"Not really, I get work done faster when I work alone."

"Oh, okay then." She says, turning to work with the girl on her right.

For ten minutes the class worked as quietly at it could, which wasn't very quiet at all. I am almost half-way done with our review packet when someone in the room starts shouting.

"Where's my pen? It was right here on my desk!" A kid yells at the top of his lungs.

"Luke, what are you talking about? Be quiet!" The teacher says loudly.

"My special pen! Somebody took it while it was on my desk!" Luke stands up and starts making his way around the room, analyzing people's faces for signs of guilt.

"Okay," the teacher states impatiently, "whoever took his pen better give it back in one minute or the whole class will get detention and stay in this room until he gets it back. Seriously you guys, you're freshmen so act your age."

Everyone was looking around the room, waiting for the person who took the pen to give it back.

After thirty seconds, I'm getting restless. No way am I going to get a detention. "Come on, give Luke his pen back! If I get detention the kid who caused this is going to be in big trouble!" Other kids murmur in agreement.

Finally, the pen was thrown through the air and landed in the middle of the room.

"Luke, there's your pen. Now everyone, get back to work!" Our teacher orders us with a look of annoyance plain on his face.

I sigh loudly, and then take five more minutes to finish my homework. While turning it in, I start thinking about the dance. Saturday was only two days away, and I realized that this was going to be the first dance Kale and I have ever gone to. It's not like people didn't want us to go, but for some odd reason Kale and I just don't like being around people. I guess we get a little anthrophobic…

Weird thing is that we always turn people down when we're asked. Why didn't I this time?

I glance at Erin. Hmm, maybe it's because she actually cares that we go to have fun, not because we're dating or because she wants to date me (or Kale). She does have a boyfriend.

That's another weird thing about Kale and I. We've never gone out with anyone in our whole lives, isn't that weird? Yeah, we call each other lame all the time because of that, even though we both know we don't want to date. That and Kale, well, has other preferences than me. He also absolutely hates girls, but we keep that secret and decide that we don't need anyone else knowing that for now. It's weird. I know we're twins and all, even identical, but it's freaky how we understand each other.

-Catastrophe while Dancing-

"How do I look?" Kale asks me as he strikes a pose, causing us both to laugh manically. Yep, Kale is actually a fun loving kind of guy. If you saw him as a sullen kill-joy, that's just because he was having a bad day. Today however, he's his old self now.

"Just like me dude." Tonight to the dance we are both wearing the same thing. Black dress pants, collared black shirts, and black dress shoes.

"I think we look like ninjas!" My brother offers, ducking low and whipping his head around, looking back and forth frantically.

"That just means we look AWESOME!" I sing.

We can't stop laughing as we make our way down stairs. Our dad is standing there waiting for us so he can drive us to the dance.

We arrive at our school just before seven o'clock.

"You boys have fun tonight!" Our dad says as we exit the car.

"Bye dad!" I call.

"Yeah, see ya!" Kale says as he drives off.

I turn and walk up to the door of our school. Kale and I hand money to the lady standing at the door and walk in.

Music is already being blasted and keeps getting louder and louder until we enter the gym. My brother and I stand there agape when we see it.

There are streamers and balloons everywhere, all either white or blue. The DJ is situated in the middle back of the gym, and since the gym's very dim, lights of all colors play all over from his stand. Suddenly, one of the many boxes situated at the top of the stand shot out a cloud of confetti, showering the dancing students in colored paper.

"This is pretty cool." I whisper, and then look at Kale with a grin on my face. "I am going to make the biggest idiot of myself here."

His eyes widen because he knows what I'm going to do. Kale turns around and starts running to the opposite side of the gym. I take after him immediately, passing by people one after another.

Why is he running? Oh, you'll see.

He slows down when he reaches the wall of the far side of the gym and stops to catch his breath. That, my friends, isn't a good idea when someone is chasing you without mercy.

I grab his shoulders and say in a hard voice, "It's time Kale."

"You know I hate it when you force me to dance!" He whines with a girly tone as I drag him into the middle of the gym, where kids are dancing. Actually, he always sounds girl-like. "And it's even worse when it's with you!"

Yep, I absolutely love to make my twin dance with me. It may seem really freaking creepy, but it's really not. It's like a daddy-daughter dance, but brother and brother. Besides, Kale is a good dancer too.

"Come on Kale, loosen up!" I yell, and we begin.

Okay, we must look like the biggest idiots in the world. Before we even begin to dance people are staring at us. When we start twirling around, kids start laughing. Kale tenses, but I don't care. The point of going to this dance is to have fun and having fun for me is being an idiot.

We twirl around and let ourselves maneuver all around the gym. After about ten minutes of non-stop blasting music, a slow song starts. Kale and I stop, a silent agreement. No slow dances… though to me that would be priceless.

"I'm hungry!" I whine, letting my eyes drift over to the snack table. "Let's go bro!"

Kale doesn't have a chance to protest as I drag him by his arm with me over towards the food.

"What?" Kale looks at me, confused.

"Aren't you going to buy me something to eat? You are the worst brother ever!" I yell dramatically above the music.

"What do you want?" He asks.

"I want a soda and a pretzel!" I reply obnoxiously loud.

"Fine!" He screams back.

While Kale makes his way to buy me food, I watch the DJ stand. At the moment tons of bubbles are blowing out of one of the little boxes situated on the top. They're so many bubbles that I can't resist the urge to start popping them.

I run over to the area the bubbles are raining and begin popping them like crazy. Yeah, I know I'm weird, but others are doing the same thing!

The bubbles are so transfixing that I don't notice a kid tripping over a cable connected to the DJ system.

Now let me tell you about things such as this. A DJ system is rigged so that it stays in one place and does a bunch of cool stuff. There is one main cable that is dire to the whole contraption. The kid who tripped over it yanked it and unplugged it from the wall. That is not something that should happen, simple as that.

"Kile!" My brother, who is returning with my food and drink, shouts as…

The speakers situated atop the rig knock over and a bunch of other stuff falls. Of course the only one under it all is me. You know how people say their life flashes before their eyes before they die? That doesn't happen!

Suddenly, I feel a force slam into me and I'm thrown several feet away. But who…?

"Kale!" A speaker falls onto his back. The bubble soap from the small box gets all over him, some on me. That's when the lights burst open and sparks fly.

Kale and I are both knocked unconscious by the electric current passing through us.

- Discovering the Truth -

"Are you okay?" A voice asks, sounding far away. "Kile?"

Grumbling, I shift around and open my eyes. "What? I feel like I fell off a second story window." Then I remember. "Oh my gosh! Is Kale okay?" I shout at the male doctor standing by the side of the bed I'm lying in.

He winces, probably because of my loud voice. "First off, yes, he's just fine. You both were knocked unconscious from the electrical DJ system at your school. You two were the only real ones hurt, everyone else ducked for cover when it collapsed." The doctor explains.

"Okay then."

"Anyway," the doctor continues, "would you like to take a look at yourself in the mirror? You weren't badly hurt, but you have plenty of scratches and bruises on you. One of Kale's scratches needed stitches, and his left shoulder had been dislocated, but otherwise he's about in the same shape as you."

"Can I visit him?" I plead, wanting to see him as soon as possible. He pushed me out of the way of real danger, at least I can do is thank him.

The doctor shakes his head. "He's actually in the room across from you, but he was sleeping when I left. It'd be best not to bother him."

I nod in understanding. "Fine." When the doctor leaves the room, I stand up and cautiously walk over to the door and open it. Looking down the hallway, I declare the coast is clear.

Acting quickly, I sprint across the hall, open the door where Kale is, and close it without being noticed. "Easy." I whisper to myself. Kale's room is the same size as mine, a narrow doorway leading to the tiny area only big enough to fit a single bed.

When I look into the room I see Kale asleep, but other than that…

"Who are you?"

The lean figure standing near the end of the bed turns slowly, looking at me with dark grayish-blue eyes. She has long blond hair and gives me a small smile as she greets me. "Well hi-ya there, my name's Stephanie. Glad to meet you." Stephanie tilts her head a little bit, smile widening.

"Hi, I'm Kile, nice to meet you— why are you here stalking my brother?" I say swiftly and fast, trying to figure out what's going on.

Moving the hair out of her eyes, she answers, "I've been told this kid here, and you for that matter, had been in an incident involving electricity. Is this true?"

"Yeah," I reply, "and?"

"May I take a look at your eyes please?" She asks, taking a casual step towards me.

I shrug. "Why not?"

Walking over to me and squinting, she peers at my eyes. After a few seconds of staring she sighs, a sigh filled with sadness.

"What?"

She takes a mirror, about the size of her palm, out of her pocket. "Good news and bad news buddy."

"Huh?"

"It's like this boy-o. Sometimes when people get electrocuted, or in some cases you're born with it, abilities in the brain are magnified beyond those of a normal human. You and the sleeping kid here show signs of being awakened, which means you need to come with me."

I stare at her with a blank expression on my face. "I'm not following."

"You and your brother," she states slowly, punctuating syllable carefully, "are special. Because of this, you both need to come with me to the Realm of Possibility."

Cocking my head, I try to grasp what she's explaining to me. "Okay… since I'm open to all sorts of things, I'll go. It seems fun actually. How do we get there?"

Stephanie straightens and gives me a somewhat startled look. "You remind me of my friend. When she found out she was special, she was open to it unlike most people."

"Why don't they want to be told they're special? Wouldn't you be happy to know you're different?"

"That's because once you accept, you never see your family again."

I freeze, taking a step back. "Then I don't want to leave. I've changed my mind. Go to the Realm of whatever and leave my brother and me out of it."

She shakes her head sympathetically. "Sorry, but no can do. You already said you would go. Besides, if you don't cooperate I'll have to knock you out." She pulls out a small gun and waves it so I can see.

"Yeah, like you could really—"

With no noise at all a dart flies at me and sticks into my neck.

Stephanie smirks at me sweetly. "Nighty night!"

-A Small Explanation-

"Kile? Come on bro you gotta wake up!" Faintly, as if muffled, Kale's voice drifts through the fog that is my dream.

"Mehhhhh…" I whine, rolling over in the bed I'm lying on. Wait, where am I?

My eyes open to find Kale standing over me with a wide grin on his face. He looks fine despite a few scratches on his face, and...

"What're you wearing?" I ask.

He looks down at his jeans, long-sleeved shirt, vest, and his black boots and gloves. All my life I've never seen him wear something like that. "What, this? It's my new outfit. Isn't it great?"

"It is pretty cool. Where are we?" As far as I can tell, we're in a small door room with two beds, a bathroom in the back, and a desk with a reading lamp in the corner. The room is painted dark blue, the ceiling spotted with yellow and white glow in the dark stars.

"Okay bro, I'm going to explain to you what Mel told me."

"Mel? You weren't mean to her were you?" Account of his hatred for females and all.

He sighs. "I controlled myself, no reason to worry over your sexist sibling. Anyway, Mel is Stephanie's sister. Mel is the one in charge of greeting new citizens of the Realm. Kile, you're going to be blown away by what I have to tell you!" He shouts happily.

I laugh at the passion in his voice. "Come on then, I'm all ears."

Kale tells me of the Realm of Possibility, which is where we are right now. It's an entire world where humans, or creatures that were once humans, live. The Realm is made up of hundreds of territories with hundreds of cultures and over thousands of creatures.

The creatures, Kale explained, used to be humans. You know all those superhero movies and horror movies with the people with super powers or monsters? Those apparently exist here, all living away from where they would be persecuted or abducted for government testing. He describes while he was being taken, not knocked out like I was, he saw all sorts of hybrids. A werewolf-like old man, a little girl with a monkey tail, and even a few four legged creatures walking around the town.

When he gets to the part about us, he tells me that our parents will forget about us within a few days because of a psychic whose job it is to keep people like us hidden. That makes me kind of upset, but I realize it's for the best. Also, he explains how our eyes, the pupils of them, have a swirl of color in them. The sign of a To-be.

A To-be is someone that has the potential to become something more. Kale is nothing but excited about that, and so am I. All my life I wished our lives would be different, and now it's finally happening.

"So Kale," I muse when he finishes with the overview. "Why are you wearing that?" I point to his outfit again. "You didn't strike me as a _guy_ who would wear boots."

He shrugs. "They told me to get some clothes out of a closet of Endlessness and take whatever I wanted. This seemed my style."

While laughing I ask, "Since when?"

"Oh quit it. Now it's your turn for new clothes."

Looking down at my hospital scrubs, I nod. "You got that right. Okay, so where are we off to?"

"Follow me." We leave our room and begin walking down an empty hallway. It looks like one you'd see in a hotel, all regal like and stuff. We turn a few corners, go down an elevator, and go into a small room with a door marked CE.

"What does that stand for?"

"Closet of Endlessness." Kale replies. "I could have come up with a better name."

"So… what do I do? Just go in?"

"Yeah, it's not that different from a regular closet, but this one has everything. And when I say everything bro, I mean everything." Turning the handle and stepping inside, I am immediately breath taken.

A long hallway with clothes of all brands and appearances that spreads from left to right seems, well, endless. Every piece of clothing you've ever seen seems to be here.

"Wow Kale, you weren't joking." It doesn't take me long to pick out black jeans, a matching shirt and jacket. I grab some sneakers too, putting all of my new clothes on in a small room off to the side.

When Kale sees me, he sighs. "Why do you always wear black?"

"Cause its slimming."

He smirks. "Never thought I'd hear a straight guy say that."

"Never thought I'd see my look-alike wearing knee-high boots. I mean come on! It's almost as if I'm the one wearing them!" I counter, reveling when he's speechless.

Finally he shakes his head and leads the way out of the room. "You have to meet a few people now, okay Kile?"

"Yeah, I get it."

-Realm of Possibility-

We walk down another hallway, then exit the building through a glass door. The outside looks like a regular city at first, but once I look over the horizon I'm astonished.

"Whoa, are those mountains back there?" I ask Kale, squinting at the faint outlines to the east. I look to the west to see what looks like a castle, one from a storybook. To the south I see nothing but darkness, and the north looks like there's a lake.

"Yeah, all the territories look completely different. There's a desert one with pyramids somewhere near the northwest, or at least that's what Stephanie told me."

I groan inwardly. "The girl that shot me with a tranquilizer dart. Who are we meeting anyway? Mel right?"

Kale nods and motions me to look at something. Turning to the general area he points at, I see two people, or sort of people, walking hand in hand. One is a tall girl with dark hair and large greenish-blue eyes. She is laughing and talking to her friend. He has light shaggy sand blond hair and hazel eyes, about the same height as the girl. His ears end in a point, fingers are claws, and a large tail wags behind him.

"That guy's pretty cool." I comment, pointing at the dog guy.

"Thought you'd say that." Kale says as we continue our way.

We walk through a more olden-like area, one with cobblestone sidewalks and tall circular streetlights. I bet it'd look pretty creepy at night.

"This is where she said to meet her." My brother announces as we reach a large brick building. "This is the center of the territory."

"Geez, Stephanie really gave you the run through."

"If you would have cooperated she wouldn't have had to shoot you." He counters.

As we're about to enter the building, a tall blond guy with greenish-blue eyes and an axe bursts out of the double doors and runs into the street. He turns around in time to see another guy, also tall but with dark brown hair and glasses, holding what looks like a bunch of shards of metal. They both look about two years older than us.

They face each other, both smiling, but with a serious aura to them.

With a yell the axe kid runs at the other one, swinging it skillfully. The guy on the receiving end ducks and throws a dozen shards of sharp metal spears at the kid. Jumping to the side, he evades them, laughing at the annoyed look of his enemy. The two stand facing each other to go at it again, when a voice calls out.

"Patrick, Shaun, can you please stop fighting in the middle of the street?" A strangely short girl with green tinted skin and long light brown hair makes her way between the two, fixing her glasses with a tired look. "You guys almost ran into the two newbie's over there." She pointed to us.

"Laurel, you know we're just playing." The blond haired guy chuckles, putting his axe through a strap on his back.

"I know Patrick." Laurel sighs. She then turns to face us. "Hello you two, sorry for my friend's idiocy."

"Oh, no big deal," I say. "Um, by any chance, are you an elf?"

"Kile!" My brother hisses. "That's rude." As he says that though, his hands clench into fists. He obviously isn't happy having this girl near him.

But she laughs. "Actually, I am." She takes a hand to move the hair around her ears and I see they are pointed. "But I guess you could tell by my appearance beforehand." She is wearing a dark green blouse and skirt, but at closer inspection I notice the strings are really threads of vines and the occasional flower. That and the aura around her screamed nature power… if that's possible.

"It's pretty cool."

"Aw, don't you think I'm cool?" The one named Patrick whines as he jogs up to us.

"That depends, where'd you learn to use an axe like that?"

He grins. "After I came here I just sort of picked it up. I'm sure you guys learned about the whole special thing right? My little supernatural ability is amazing strength, so this axe is actually quite light in my hands, whereas even someone trained using one can't use it as skillfully as me. I guess I could have done anything, but after my friend here started using weapons, I wanted to learn how to use one too."

"Huh, that is cool." Kale points out. "What about the other kid? Shaun right?"

"Yeah," Patrick answers for him. "He has perfect sight and hits whatever he aims at with his fancy metal spears."

Shaun mumbles something incoherent, but doesn't deny it.

"But he has glasses on…" I point out.

"His sight is so developed that if he doesn't have glasses on, he'd like go crazy. He can pretty much see through things if he doesn't wear them."

"Cool!"

The group of us stands there for a few moments, not saying anything. Finally, Kale interrupts the silence. "Well, we got to go meet up with someone now. I hope we see you later!"

After saying our goodbyes the three of them depart down the street and we turn back to the building.

As soon as we step through we are greeted by a girl that looks like Stephanie, but with glasses and a clipboard in hand. "Hello Kale, nice to see you again." She smiles slightly, "and nice to meet you Kile. I'm Melissa, but call me Mel please."

"Hi." I greet, shaking her hand.

We walk into the lobby and she sits down in an armchair. "I'm the caretaker of this territory's City Hall." She continues, motioning for us to sit down in the chairs next to her. "I personally welcome you to the Realm of Possibility. This territory, named Amity, is one of the largest ones in the Realm. As you two get used to being here, I hope you two will fall into the rhythms of things.

Now I'll go into the history of the Realm. For time's sake, I'll just give you the short overview." Mel takes a deep breath then starts.

"The Realm of Possibility came to be around the time of the Indians, hundreds of years ago. The one who created the Realm is an immortal Queen named Chloe Annabelle. She made it her personal goal to fill the world with unique and interesting beings so she wouldn't be lonely anymore. Within the next few decades the Queen wasn't lonely anymore, and she found her first and only love.

But sadly, he grew older every year while the Queen stayed the same. She was forced to watch him get weaker and closer to death. When he died, Chloe vowed that she would never again fall in love with another man.

This led to her hatred of all men. The castle she lived in, and still lives in for that matter, was men free. Only women were allowed in there for a long time, so that the Queen wouldn't be tempted to break her promise. After many years like this, she changed the rules. The Queen allowed men into her castle, to work and take care of things, but also as personal toys. She never actually did anything with them, but she did and still does make them do embarrassing things for amusement. Like a jester if you will. Sometimes she abuses them though, putting collars on them and calling them her dogs.

Oh, that brings me to another thing!" Mel takes another deep breath before resuming. "Before the vow, she had four children. One girl and three boys. Unlike their father, they were immortal. The Queen took a special interest in her daughter, Jess, but neglected her three sons. The three of them, Michael, Jared, and Yew, ended up moving away from the castle as a young age, the daughter however stayed and was pampered by her mother for all time. Today, the Queen and her daughter still live in the castle being spoiled and extorting men. Two of the sons are still gone, no one knowing what happened to them. The youngest one however, is said to rule the Dark Forest to the South." Mel stops again, taking a sip of water from a bottle she had been carrying with her. "Well, I think that's enough."

"Wow," I gasp admiringly. "That must have taken a long time to remember."

She shakes her head. "Actually, I was born with a perfect memory. Everything I've read, seen, or heard I have stored in my head. When Kale came here to register you both, I automatically filed everything I learned about you away."

"How long was I out?" I mumble under my breath.

"Now I hate to be rude, but I have work to do now. It was a pleasure meeting you both!" Mel calls as she walks away.

"What now?"

My brother shrugs. "Want to go look around town?"

-Greet the Queen-

Leaving the City Hall and heading down the road, we go sight-seeing.

Many things in the Realm are the same. There are grocery stores, parks, and movie theaters. Small differences occur in those, like the grocery being endless and there being food I'd never seen in my life. Take the bright red banana-like vegetables with a 'don't eat raw or you'll die' warning label.

My brother and I visit a few antique stores too, just to look at all the exotic things that don't exist in our world. A pet store we go in has a small cat-like animal that's covered in scales, or the bat winged foxes. There is even a watermelon-like creature, which we find out is a breed or armadillo.

"So… what now?" Kale asks as we leave the tenth store we visit.

Blinking tiredly I reply, "How should I know?"

"Then we should just go home then." He advises. "I'm sure it's this w—"

Before he can finish that statement a loud musical alarm goes off. Everyone is crowding the street line up along it, leaving a space large enough to drive a car through.

Kale grabs my arm and pulls me off to the side. "I think it's the Queen."

A large black limo comes into sight, gleaming in the afternoon sun. It drives slowly, stopping only when it reaches a bakery. Hmm, I think, the Queen must enjoy pastries.

The driver gets out and scurries over to the side door, pulling it open in a smooth motion. It's silent and a woman, looking in her twenties, exits the limo. The Queen has long red hair, eyes looking a light purple from where I am standing. She is tall, skinny, a regal look on her face.

With a fluid movement of her arm, another form exits the limo. Jess, the Princess I presume, is wearing almost the same kind of dress as the queen, a dark purple dress that hovers just about the ground. The Princess looks identical to the Queen, only the age being different. Jess looks about seventeen.

"Citizens!" The Queen calls, voice spreading over everyone like mist. "My daughter and I are just out for a quick visit, there's no need for any alarm!" Wow, a little full of herself is she? "There's no need for crowds!" She stops speaking and leads her daughter into the bakery, flanked by two very buff looking body guards, which are, I notice, both girls. I'm not saying I'm sexist like Kale, but I've never seen buff looking girls before, especially one with antennas on their heads.

"Huh, so that's the all immortal Queen?" My voice is loud in the nearly dead silent crowd.

"Shh!" Kale exclaims, putting a hand on my shoulder. He gives me a nudge and I see his eyes are filled with sadness.

"What's wrong?"

He frowns and points over to the driver, who is standing next to the limo's door stiffly. At first I don't see what the deal is. What, a guy is standing next to the limo, so what? Then I notice there is a cat collar around his neck, a bell too.

"That's horrible." I mutter.

Kale nods. "She probably does it to all the guys, not the girls." You can hear his disgust plainly as he says that.

"I'm so glad I don't work for her."

-One Dark Day-

The next morning I spring up out of bed with a burst of energy.

"Ugh, why do you have to be such an early riser Kile?" Kale growls as he rolls himself out of bed.

"Cause today I want to go visit those guys from yesterday. You know, Laurel, Patrick, and Shaun. They seemed friendly enough."

He shakes his head. "I guess if we don't have anything else better to do—"

"Yay! Now hurry up and get your boots on bro!"

"Fine!" He yells, dragging the word longer than usual. Ha, he must be grumpy.

Kale and I dress quickly in the clothes we had gotten yesterday. A laugh bursts out of me as Kale puts on his 'combat' boots.

Together we leave the room, then the complex, making our way towards the City Hall. White clouds roll across the light blue sky and the hum of people and creatures talking make the city have a peaceful feel to it. A light breeze ruffles my hair and I swipe a hand across my head to fix it.

When we reach the City Hall, it's empty except for Mel and… Stephanie.

"Oh joy, it's her." I groan, face-palming.

"Well hello there boy-o!" Stephanie greets brightly, walking over and putting an arm around my shoulder. "So what's up Kale, Kile?"

Kale answers for us. "Yesterday my brother and I met some kids outside that we wanted to visit again. Their names are Shaun, Patrick, and Laurel. Do you know them?"

Mel walks over from where she was sitting in a desk and replies, "I know them. Steph and I are very good friends with them actually. You want to find them? Well… I think I saw Laurel an hour ago headed to Rowan Park. It's just up the street actually, but only Laurel would be there. You could ask her about everyone else though." She offers.

"Melsa!" Stephanie whines. "I was just going to take them there myself and now I have no reason to get out of here!"

Mel laughs and shakes her head. "You're my best friend, we must endure together! Besides, I'll be off in another three hours anyway and then we can watch Spongebob at your house."

"Gahh… fine, whatever you say Melsa." Stephanie walks down a hallway and turns a corner, disappearing from sight.

"Anyway, the park is right up the street and to your left. Tell everyone I said 'hi' if you see them." Mel turns around and sits back at a desk, looking much too young to be doing that.

"Thank you, see ya some other time!" I call as Kale and I leave the building.

Halfway to the park, the ground starts to shake.

"Is it an e-earthquake?" I yell as I'm knocked off my feet. The ground is beginning to crack, rising and lowering at random. The sky darkens from a light blue to an ugly gray color, and small dark shapes dart across the sky. They swoop down towards a large building, then disappear.

Another shock hits and as I steady myself with a hand, a stone slides loose and its edge cuts my hand. Faintly I notice blood, but decide it's nothing.

"Kile, you okay?" Kale stutters as he retains his balance.

"I guess so, but I really wish I knew what the heck is going on!" Pulling myself into a sitting position, I try listening to what other people are saying.

"This darkness isn't natural!"

"What were those things in the sky? They were headed straight for where the Queen and her daughter were last seen!"

"I hope they aren't in danger…"

Within a few more minutes the quaking stops, the ground falling back into place as if nothing happened.

All is silent. Nobody dares to move. Suddenly, the Queen's grief filled voice rings through the land.

"_My daughter, she's been taken!"_

-Okay, We Volunteer-

The next day the Queen orders for all the citizens of Amity to gather outside her castle, which is located on the outer edge of town. We are told by Mel and Stephanie early in the morning, who tell us we need to hurry or we may get in trouble.

The four of us make our way to the castle together, meeting up with Laurel, Shaun, and Patrick on the way. We greet each other with uneasy talk, wanting to be carefree, but knowing now is not the time.

By the time we reach the castle, there are over hundreds of people and other creatures alike are standing outside the building, looking grim.

The Queen walks out of the twin wooden doors. She is wearing a long flowing red dress with lace that trails on the ground. Her face is set with a serious look, a look that could kill.

"Denizens of Amity," she exclaims powerfully, long hair whipping around her face in the wind. "Yesterday morning, my lovely and only daughter, Jessica, was taken from me. Large dark shadow-like creatures spirited her away towards the Dark Forest, where my… son, Yew, is said to rule. Last night I sent my most powerful army to bring her back, but…" She takes an uneasy breath. "Only one of them returned."

Everyone around us, all of our friends alike, look horrified and surprised.

"Yes, it is true. All but one of the two hundred and fifty died, the only one escaped, half dead herself. She said that a figure in a black cloak told her to give me a message, which I am to never try getting her back again. Of course I won't stop, no matter what it takes! That is why I am offering a reward to any that wish to bring her back. So, any takers?"

Once again, there is complete silence. No one dares to step forward, afraid that if the royal army is slaughtered so mercilessly, they're sure to be killed as well.

The Queen doesn't look surprised. "I thought as much. Now I'd like for you all to meet my pet, Tobi."

A large sparkling white creature appears from behind the Queen, perching on her arm. It is very much identical to a baby dragon, but its wings are white and feathery like an angel. Its eyes are bright yellow and from where I'm standing, it is absolutely stunning.

"Tobi will now pick someone out of the crowd. If you are picked, you have to choices. Either you accept the offer, or I lock you up in the jail cells under my castle for all life. Understood? Then let's proceed."

Tobi launches itself off of the Queen's shoulder and into the air. It circles overhead, observing the people below. Some people, I notice, are ducking down or are covering their heads with their arms. Yeah, I think, like that'll help.

Suddenly the dragon-bird thing darts downward and lands on a man's head. The man is shocked and looks up at the Queen.

"So, what will it be?" The Queen asks.

"N-no thank you." He whimpers.

The Queen sighs. "Then so be it. Guards, take him away." Two satyr-like women grab the man and pull him away, Tobi jumping off his head as he is being dragged away.

"Next." Tobi flies around in the air once again, choosing another person. It chooses six more times and every time the answer is the same.

Tobi lazily flaps its wings and lands on Kale's head, who is almost asleep on his feet that he barely notices.

"Your answer?"

Kale's eyes widen and he looks to me frantically. "Kile, what do I do?" He whispers desperately.

"Say something!" Of course he's going to accept it… right? Kale can't survive in any type of prison, at least without me.

He faces the Queen again and replies. "Okay."

Her mood brightens as though she was about to break out dancing. "How very noble of you! I would like you and whoever will be accompanying you to return this afternoon. Now everyone is may take their leave. Goodbye!" With that, she makes her way back into the palace.

Patrick, Laurel, Mel, Shaun, and Stephanie gather around Kale and me, all talking at once.

"What?" I ask angrily, trying to make sense of what to do.

Mel puts a hand on my shoulder and gives me an encouraging smile. "Since I know you'll be going with your brother, my friends and I are going to help you."

Kale crosses his arms. "Yeah, but then won't you be killed? Isn't this whole quest, adventure, mission or whatever it is, impossible anyway?"

Stephanie cuts in. "Listen you guys, I'm going with you. Mel can't fight, so she'll help prepare us better than the army was. They just marched in. I bet if we have all the right equipment and sneak in instead of barging in, we'll have a chance."

"Yeah," Patrick says loudly. "Shaun and I are coming too! We can fight!" He turns to Laurel. "Are you coming?"

Laurel nods, but makes a face. "I won't be able to leave for three days because I have to watch over my brethren. I can fight, but I'll have to meet up with you all later."

Kale and I are quiet, unsure of what to say. "I'm not sure if five people can get back a Princess from a force that slaughtered an entire army." Kale mumbles.

Stephanie smiles. "I have a couple of buddies that can help you out."

-Our Mini Army-

"Hey, I remember seeing you two the first day here!" I gasp, pointing my new allies. They were the girl and dog-tailed guy I saw when I first woke up, when we were going to the City-Hall.

The guy scratches his head. "Well nice to meet ya then. My name's Gary. This is my girlfriend Jena." He nudges the girl standing next to him.

"Hello!" She shakes Kale's hand as he gulps at her touch. "You're the kid that volunteered to get the Princess back right?"

"Unfortunately."

"So you'd actually be willing to help us?" I ask them.

Gary and Jena both nod.

"Why?"

Jena laughs. "All my friends are going with you, I couldn't live without them. Even if my shaggy-haired boyfriend was with me, I'd still be utterly lonely."

"Hey!" He defends, and then bites her on the arm.

She smacks him upside the head. "Ew, I hate it when you slobber on me! Ugh, anyway," she turns to me, "I'd gladly help out a friend of a friend."

"And I wouldn't let her go in alone." Gary vows.

"Thank you all so much." I look around at the small army Kale and I now had. Stephanie, Mel, Patrick, Shaun, Laurel, Jena, Gary, Kale, and me. Of course Mel had gone to our place to drop off everything we'd need for the journey at our place, and Laurel wouldn't be joining us right away, but it was still better than going it alone.

Five minutes before noon everyone in our little army, except for Mel and Laurel, stand outside the castle. We are all tense when a dozen female guards come to herd us inside to meet the Queen. Surrounded by guards, my friends and I are led into the castle.

"It's amazing!" Patrick's eyes grow round as he looks at the décor. "Look at all the paintings!"

I cock my head in question.

"Oh," he smiles wryly, "I'm kind of an artist."

I nod in understanding. "That's something I didn't know about the all mighty axe carrier."

He laughs, and then continues observing at the art as we walk down a long hallway. Instead, I critique the place in general. The carpets are all fancy with intricate designs, chandeliers hang suspended from an arcing ceiling, and exotic flowers grow in vases lining the wall. Just like you'd expect in a Queen's castle.

We reach a large wooden door and are told to stop.

"Enter dears!" A familiar voice beckons.

The seven of us step into the room, which turns out to be a throne room. It is large with statues lining the carpet walkway up to a large red velvet chair. Sitting on it of course, is Queen Chloe.

"Ah, our young Hero has arrived." Her gaze shifts between Kale and me. "Well whichever one of you it is, I commend you for accepting my offer. If you return from the Dark Forest with my daughter, you shall be set for life, allowed to live in this very castle." She waves her arms to make a point.

As she talks, some of us take into account the forms near the bottom of the Queen's raised thrown. There are three figures chained to the chair like dogs, all men. One is a middle aged man wearing a clown costume, another is an elf, and the last one is a boy that sparks Kale's eye. And when I mean sparks Kale's eye, which is something interesting by far.

"He's like an angel." Kale whispers in awe.

The boy looks about our age with short, dark purple hair and bright green eyes. He is wearing a simple t-shirt and shorts, the only unnatural thing about his being the collar around his next. It even has a bell!

But from the looks of it, Kale is hypnotized by the boy. Um, didn't I mention he was a homosexual? Well whatever. He's still my bro, so if you don't approve then whatever.

"I have a question." Kale interrupts, resulting in a glare from the Queen.

"What is it?" She fixes a dangerous look at him, her eyes darker than the first time I'd seen them.

"If I do come back with the Princess… can you let him go?" He points to the boy.

The Queen lets out a sharp laugh. "Okay, I'll let Reed here go if you bring Jessica back, even though I have no idea why you'd want one of my pets."

"Thank you." Kale says simply.

"Now then, if everything is understood you all can depart now. But if you haven't left Amity by noon tomorrow, you'll be hunted down and killed, okay?" She grins sweetly, her eyes closed and head tilted in mock kindness.

"We understand." I reply, leading the way out of the Queen's chamber.

-Onward Towards Adventure-

"So Kale… interested in somebody are we?" Patrick teases as we walk to our building.

"Yeah, I didn't know you were gay." Shaun comments, finally breaking the silence that he usually has.

"Hey hey hey," Jena defends, playing with her hair as she walks. "Sexual orientation doesn't matter. Besides, that boy was kind of cute." She giggles.

Gary utters a low growl and his tail droops.

Jena puts her arm around his shoulder and leans her head against him. "But not as appealing as my Gary here."

Kale sighs, a sigh filled with disappointment. "Even if we manage to get the Princess back and free him, what're the chances of him being… you know?"

"Actually," Stephanie cuts in, "Queen Chloe only allows men who don't like women into her castle, unless for a very special reason. So your chances of him being… available, are at least fifty-fifty."

"Yes!" My brother exclaims, then blushes at what he just said.

We all laugh, breaking the tension for at least a few moments.

"I hope everyone is really okay with helping me out." Kale frets as we lie in bed. It's dark, so I can't see his face, but I bet you he is on the verge of tears. Everyone helping us had gone home the hour before, agreeing to meet at the Southern Gate at nine in the morning to set off. They had done their best to get him pumped, since he was still depressed about the whole thing, but it helped very little.

"Bro, we're going to do this. I'd rather die than see you dead or in prison, you know that much is true. If worst comes to worse and we fail and still live, I'll take the blame for it and go to prison." Kale tries to interrupt, but I continue. "However, I will personally not allow us to fail. Remember why we're here in the first place? Because we are special. Not like Special Ed or what Barney tells us, we are truly gifted. It's only a matter of time before your power or mutation shows itself."

"Wait… you said 'your', not 'our'. Are you saying…?"

I laugh uneasily. "I was going to tell you sooner or later. I only just realized this yesterday."

"What is it?"

"Remember the earthquake hit and I cut my hand clean open? I didn't feel a thing, nothing whatsoever. And, now don't call me a cutter, I gave myself a paper cut. You know how bad those hurt right? I felt nothing, so I'm guessing my power is being impervious to physical pain."

"But you can't be sure. A paper cut is one thing, but what if you get stabbed or an arm broken? Whatever we're up against will be worse and you know it." He argues, yawning as he finishes.

"Fine, we'll talk about it tomorrow. Goodnight bro."

"You too."

We stand at a large stone gate that leads to the Dark Forest, which isn't that far away at all. It's somewhat warm, the sun peeking out under the fluffy clouds.

"Everyone's here," I say to Kale as I look out over our friends.

Every one of them is wearing matching camouflage pants, t-shirts, jackets, and combat boots. Mel got a hold of them especially for us, saying that they helped with maintaining body temperature and of course helping us not being spotted. Kale and I are wearing the uniform too.

"So Mel won't be coming at all, and Laurel will join us later, is that correct?" Kale asks Patrick.

"Yep, but the group of us may already get the Princess back by then. If we take our time and enter the forest from the opposite side the Queen's army did, we'll be able to infiltrate the area where the Princess should be quickly."

"And where is that exactly?" Jena and Stephanie ask at the same time, resulting in laughter.

"She's supposed to be in a small house that's located the southern middle area of the Dark forest." Says Patrick while checking to make sure his axe is properly strapped to his back.

This brings Jena to my mind. So far, everyone can obviously fight one way or another. Stephanie has her way with the bow and arrow (I had previously thought it was guns, but that was just a one-time thing), Patrick has his axe, Shaun has his knives (which I learned he could use by throwing them or in hand-to-hand combat), Laurel told me before that revealing her powers could wait, and Gary could rip someone to shreds with his teeth and claws (not to mention his overly heightened senses). Kale and I are ultimately defenseless, that we know, but what about Jena?

"Hey," I lightly tap her on the shoulder. "Um, I can't help but wondering, but how are you going to help us? I mean, it's just I don't want you to be hurt or anything and—"

She holds up a hand for silence and smirks. "I get what you're saying completely. It is about time that I show you why Stephanie opted for me to join you."

Without another word, she pulls a small pin out of her pocket and places it on her forearm. I am about to interrupt when she shushes me, telling me its fine. Gently she pushes it into her arm only enough to allow one small drop of blood to appear before jamming the pin back into her pocket.

For a second she stares at me blankly, noticing my eyes staring at the drop of blood on her arm.

"It's quite alright you know. I don't do this often, and it's a part of my power. Want to see?" I nod slowly, deciding it wasn't such a big deal and she knew what she was doing.

With a serious look on her face she takes a deep breath and gives the drop of blood a lazy stare. Suddenly, the drop of blood seems to jump off of her, land on the ground, and mutate. It grows and becomes more solid, finally taking the shape of a small house cat.

The cat is entirely the same dark red as her blood, as if someone had poured a can of paint on it. Its eyes are the only thing differently colored, them being the same green as Jena's eyes.

Kale decides then to turn around from where he was conversing with Gary about werewolves, and yelps in surprise of the creature.

"Now that is interesting." He comments, standing beside me.

Jena smiles craftily. "Now little friend, get him!"

Almost at once Kale and I close our eyes and flinch, expecting her to be talking about us, when we here Gary let out a long stream of cuss words.

"Thanks a lot Jena, thanks!" We open our eyes hesitantly to see the small cat had clamped its mouth on his tail, resulting in a very unenthusiastic Gary.

"It's about time you left him alone, don't ya' think?" Stephanie comments dryly.

Jena snaps her fingers and the small cat disappeared, a single drop of blood falling to the ground.

Gary glares at her, but says nothing.

"Can we go yet?" Shaun asks impatiently, looking quite bored.

Kale looks to Stephanie, who more or less is the assumed leader.

She nods happily and starts making her way towards the Dark Forest. "Come on everybody," she sings, "it's to the Dark Forest we go!"

-Encounter Number One-

"What are those?" Kale and I ask with horrified expressions on our faces.

The group of us had reached the Dark Forest, which Patrick claimed he could find a better name for, about an hour ago. We were walking around the edge of the forest and making our way behind it when we encountered trouble.

Stephanie takes a defensive stance, as everyone else but my brother and I do too, and ushers us to be quiet. Several yards ahead of us are a trio of what appears to be dinosaurs. They resemble T-rexes and are about the size of a large deer, jagged teeth stick out of their scaly mouths and the eyes are pink and bloodshot. They are the color of dead grass, their stomachs a pale yellow as they sniff the air around them.

Suddenly, after sniffing the air for a few precious seconds, one of them turns its head in our direction, locking its unsettling gaze on me.

It makes a sort of purring noise with its throat as its claws appear to get bigger! The other two notice us as well and now all three of them making squawking noises.

Okay, so when I first came to the Realm of Possibility I knew people and the wildlife wouldn't be normal. Mel explained how animals evolved here over time. But seriously, dinosaurs? That's just plain weird!

With a shake of my head I clear my thoughts, noticing the three dinosaurs are slowly making their way towards us. Kale is beside me, the both of us behind our friends who make a semicircle of protection around us. Stephanie draws her bow, Shaun stands with five knives in each hand. Patrick grabs his axe and positions it, Jena pokes her finger with a pin and two giant rabid blood-red bunnies form at her feet. Gary's clothes morph into himself as light sandy brown hair covers him and he drops to four legs. His entire body contorts into an abnormally large and deadly wolf within seconds.

"Now!" Stephanie shouts as the closest dinosaur's muscles tense for attack.

Chaos breaks out as one dinosaur goes for Gary, another rockets for Steph and Patrick, and one keeps its eyes on me.

I watch stupefied as Gary fights off his opponent. They circle each other, Gary growling softly and the dinosaur snarling loudly. Without warning the dinosaur attempts to hop on Gary's back, but ends up pinned to the ground under sharp claws. With its feet it rips furiously at Gary's stomach. He yelps but doesn't let go. Instead he clamps his jaws around the dinosaur's neck, while avoiding its snapping teeth, and breaks it cleanly. A moment later, one dino is dead.

Kale nudges my shoulder and I glance over just in time to see two bunnies covering the eyes of another dino, which by the way was running blindly in circles and had Patrick and Jena laughing.

I am about to comment on it when Kale points behind me in fear.

"Look out!"

I turn to see the other dino nimbly escape Stephanie and begin charging at us, the arrow stuck in the meat of its left leg doing nothing to slow it down.

Kale and I, being as defenseless as we are, do the only natural thing to do at the time.

Scream.

We back away quickly, but it's already upon us. I close my eyes tightly and wait for the impact. Instead, I hear a grunt.

I open my eyes to see Shaun standing in front of us. The dino's mouth is around Shaun's arms, which he's holding up defensively in front of him. With a shout he hurls the dino off him, causing his arms to be cut open as well. My brother and I hear him swear as the dinosaur is about to jump on him, right before an arrow flies through its head. The dinosaur slumps to the ground, eyes wide as the life drains out of it.

"I'm so sorry Shaun! I missed it the first time and it slipped away from me. Here, let me see your arm." Stephanie says running over.

Shaun shrugs as he pulls off his jacket to reveal a couple of nasty tears where the dinosaur's teeth had ripped into.

Quickly, Stephanie slips the small backpack she had brought from her back and pulls out disinfectant and hospital bandages. As she wraps him up he flinches. It probably burns.

"Hey, are you okay there Shaun?" Patrick asks as Jena, Gary, and him walk over to us.

Shaun smirks. "Ha-ha, just fine Patrick. Your concern warms my heart." There is a bit of sarcasm in his voice as he says that, but he knows Patrick cares.

Within five more minutes his arms are wrapped up and we are all ready to continue on.

-Sorry 'bout that-

By the end of the day we were all tired. It was getting dark as the sun dipped lower and the moon rose higher over the horizon, and we all just wanted to find a place to rest.

"So," I muse as we walk through the forest brush, "who actually knows where we're going? I'm about to fall asleep on my feet."

Stephanie taps her forehead with her finger. "After talking with Mel and Patrick, I have a pretty good idea where we're go— huh. That wasn't on the map."

Shrouded by a few trees, a large white building can be seen. It is about three stories tall and has colored glass windows and a large cross on the front, just above a large pair of wooden doors. It's obviously a church. The church looks about average sized, a couple of steps leading into it. But what catches my eye is the door swinging open.

"We should check it out." Stephanie signals, leading us towards the building.

Cautiously the seven of us make our way up the steps and enter the seemingly empty building. I mean, there are the rows of wooden pews and a large altar in the back, but no one appears to be in it.

Suddenly, there is a movement behind one of the pews. Shaun instinctively throws a knife in the direction of the noise, and it sticks in a pew with a _thunk_.

Behind the pew rises a boy who looks about sixteen years old. ((Um… Kennedy cutting in to tell you to just make up how he looks, since he's a friend I haven't met in person, meaning I don't know how he looks. Sorry!))

His eyes are wide as he looks at us. "Who are you?"

The group of us look at each other, unsure of what to say. After a moment Kale breaks away from us and takes a few steps towards the boy.

"My friends and I are on a quest to bring back the Queen's pet dragon that wandered off in this forest. We were walking and just happened to notice this church here. You see, we've been walking all day and we were hoping we could, I don't know, rest over night?" Kale smiles nicely and cocks his head as he asks, "So can we?"

The boy looks bored. "I gotta warn you all first about something important. I'm a demon as you might not be able to see, but—"

"You're a demon?" Jena interrupts.

The boy's eyes suddenly glow bright yellow, a dark mist churns in the air around him, and fangs protrude from his mouth. A midnight colored tail is suddenly visible and sharp claws seem to unsheathe.

I gulp. Yep, he's a demon alright.

"Anyway," the demon continues, "I have super intuition, so I'll know if you try anything funny with me. I'm a peaceful guy. Also, the warning is that sometimes monsters flock in here to mess with me. They do that almost every night, which means in a couple of hours you'll have to hide. Is that okay?" He asks.

Kale nods. "Thank you so much! My name's Kale by the way." He stretches out his hand to the demon.

"I'm Logan." Logan shakes his hand gingerly, and then looks at him with a confused and grinning face.

"What's wrong?" Kale asks concerned.

"Why is someone as kind and warm-hearted as you," he says in a playful tine, "dressed up as a boy?"

Everyone freezes, looking at Kale with wide eyes. Kale himself pales dramatically, looking at me with frightened eyes. Not because of the kind comment either. Well, looks like _her_ secret is out.

I break in before anything can be said. "Kale is a girl… Guess your secret is finally out, hey sis?"

Kale automatically turns on me, going from shocked and confused to angry and annoyed. "I told you to never call me sis! Why don't you ever listen to me?" Then she turns on Logan. "Why did you have to say that? I've been passing as a boy for five years and now, one week after I get here, everyone I actually get along with knows! I'm outta here!"

Without another word she stomps out of the church as we all look at each other speechless.

"Sorry 'bout that I guess." Logan apologizes.

Gary unfreezes long enough to ask the dreaded question. "What's going on here? Kale is a freaking girl? When— Gahh! I don't get it!"

"Everyone just calm down!" I shout as I usher for everyone to sit down in the pews. "I'll tell you why Kale has been passing herself as a boy."

"This should be good." I hear Shaun whisper to Patrick.

-A Small Story-

"So…" I muse, unsure of where to start. "What do you guys want to know?"

The group of us, excluding Kale and including Logan, sat around in the pews. Jena finally pipes up, "Just start from the beginning!"

"Fine. Kale and I are twins, I'm a boy and Kale's a girl. Actually, we were triplets. Kale, Kole, and Kile. Kole was our sister, but she died after getting raped and her throat slit. When we were about ten years old, Kale obtained a hatred of girls, even though she is one. She cut her hair and started dressing like a boy. Of course we moved a town over and went to a different school so no one would know she was a girl. Anyway, since then nobody, not even my parents and I, acknowledge Kale as a boy. It wasn't that hard to deal with at the time. Kale didn't have… well she wears this under armor stuff now so she appears as a boy. I don't know about the um, err, other female characteristics she deals with." I make a 'you know what I'm getting at right?' face and I see the girls nod and the boys glance around awkwardly. "So that's that. I know she's going to be really pissed about this, after five years of no one finding out. She'll probably still pretend to be a boy, but I never know with her. Ha, guess I can't call Kale a 'he' or 'bro' now. Those were good times."

"So, Kale still likes guys though then? I'm confused on the whole homosexual thing, knowing that Kale's a girl…" Patrick trails off.

I laugh, running a hand through my hair at the same time. "Kale is a girl that passes as a guy. She hates girls, she likes guys. Kale told me when you people weren't around that she asked for the boy, Reed's, freedom because it just seemed unfair that someone our age was being treated like that. And because she thought he was cute. I know it seems complicated, but Kale isn't looking for anyone, so it doesn't matter."

Everyone is quiet, letting the truth sink in, until Shaun asks, "Why does she hate girls so much?"

"I can't answer that, it's personal and I don't think Kale will talk about it. She hates them for many reasons, but the major one is classified, sorry. Though I'm surprised you missed the hint."

"That's fine." Stephanie stands up and stretches. "Where did he— err, she run off to?" Suddenly her eyes get huge. "Kale could be in danger!"

As the rest of us get up, Logan sprints ahead of us and blocks the door.

"Hold on a second!" He shouts as we halt in front of him. "I'll go look for Kale myself. The monsters that come to bother me will be here soon and if they see you somebody will get hurt. Chances are if they see only one person they'll ignore it, but if they see a group they'll go asking for trouble. Let me look." You can tell he's confident. Despite the laidback and somewhat playful attitude, he's caring.

"Fine, but I have to come too." I say, eyes determined.

Logan sighs heavily but motions me to follow him outside.

The two of us walk down the church steps and stop when our fit hit the ground. Logan sniffs the air for a second and points to our left. "She should be over there. Let's go."

It's somewhat dark out, little light coming out from behind the clouds. I pull the jacket I'm wearing off from my waist, since it had been hot out, and put it on as the temperature drops.

Out of nowhere Logan stops and ushers me to look to the right. There I see Kale propped up against a tree, eyes closed but with an angry look on her face.

I step out from the brush, motioning Logan to hold on, and make my way over to where Kale could notice me. Sure enough, she hears me and opens her eyes, startled.

"What're you bothering me for? I'm not in the mood." She grumbles, turning her head away from me.

"Kale? Come on, it's too dangerous to be out here." Kale doesn't respond. "Come on… sis."

With that Kale stands up and marches back in the direction of the house. She doesn't meet Robbie's or my eyes as she stomps past us.

As we follow her, Logan whispers to me. "Is there anything I can do to make it up to her? It was an accident and I already tried saying sorry…" He trails off.

"The best thing we can do is leave her alone for a while. You know, till she cools down." I answer.

"If it makes you or her feel any better, I wouldn't have known she was a girl unless I made physical contact with her. I can go into people's minds from touch. Also…" He murmurs the rest.

"What'd you say? I couldn't catch that."

"Um… she reminds me of my sister, and I feel overly protective of her. Also, I know why you're all really here. So you're going to rescue the princess eh? I'll come with you know."

I doubt the first sentence, but just shrug it off. "It's going to dangerous."

He shakes his head. "I almost die just about every night because of the monsters I was talking about. They enjoy bullying me. Getting outta here seems like a good idea."

"I'm sure they won't mind."

-Gary Gets Served-

We stop talking as the three of us reach the church doors. Kale storms through the doors and past the pews, where everyone else is lounging around, and sits behind a large built in desk in the back. She obviously didn't want to look at anyone.

I sigh as I fling myself on one of the pews, realizing after that it's not a good idea. Hard wood hurts if you land on it the wrong way.

"Hey guys, Logan's going to come with us on our journey thing, okay? And before you ask I didn't tell him anything! His super intuition did all the work." I call, everyone nodding tiredly in return.

"So," Gary muses loudly, "Why does Kale hate girls? I mean, they all aren't that bad."

"That's right. Hey Kile, does that mean she hates Steph and I?" Jena asks worriedly.

"No, usually she can tolerate some girls that she trusts… ish. Kale, do you hate them?" I shout, waiting for a reply from the back of the church.

"I don't _hate_ them!" She calls back, voice echoing in the church. "Their… okay I guess."

"Hey, why do you hate girls?" Gary yells.

Silence passes and after a minute Kale answers with a voice filled with malice. "Girls are horrible controlling wastes of space! I swear, I wish I was a guy so that I don't have to admit I am a girl. It's a terrifying thought…" She trails off.

"But that's not the real reason." Logan says questionably. "It's because—"

"SHUT UP!" Kale screams desperately, breaking Logan off.

Though she can't see it, he hangs his head and winces. He doesn't want to get on her bad side. "Sorry."

Gary chuckles quietly. "This is so interesting. Hey Kale, can you say something like a preppy girl? Jena, Steph, and Mel can't do it right."

"Dude." I warn him. You don't want to hear Kale's girly voice… it's perfect, but once she starts…

"Oh no you didn't! I swear you did not just say what I think you said!" Gary says, failing to sound preppy at all. More like a southern bell kind of voice.

"That's it, you're going down!" Everyone looks up at Kale, who is now up and walking towards us, and I face palm.

"Gary, you don't know what you've just unleashed. Oh man… five years and she can still do it perfectly."

"Do what?" Shaun asks.

"Serve like a girly girl."

"Oy-vey."

Kale is now face to face with a standing Gary. They're staring at each other, a standoff.

"What did you say a moment ago? My hearing must be going bad 'cause you did not just attempt to talk like an effing girly girl. If you did, you've succeeded in royally _pissing me off_." She says, voice a few octaves higher than normal and full of venom. Patrick, Shaun, and Logan look surprised, jaws hanging open. Steph and Jena are smiling widely as an unnerved Gary takes a shaky breath.

"Well, I did." Gary says challengingly, but a hint of uneasiness slips into his voice. Kale is staring at him with eyes narrowed and body seemingly towering over him.

"Okay." Kale smiles a bright large smile that could belong in a magazine. She closes her eyes and cocks her head before batting her eyebrows and looking at him with a pitying look. "Now say sorry."

"What?"

Now she stands up straight, voice hard but sweet. "I will say it one more time. After that, I'll be putting a doggy collar on you and taking you to the vet for some needed vaccinations. Now I'll say it again, say sorry."

With a growl he pushes her and transforms into a wolf. We move to react but halt when she puts a hand up. With a smirk she squats on the ground and brings her face within an inch of the wolf's bared teeth.

"Don't you mess with me wolf-boy. You won't hurt me and you know it. Besides, I'm not gunna be no pitiful little girl that you think you can mess with." In a swift motion her hands wrap around his jaw and snout and clamp them together tightly. Gary's wolf eyes get wide in amazement as her smirk turns into a full devil grin. "You've unleashed a beast, worse than you I might add."

Logan lets out a low whistle.

She stands back up and lets her hands drop to her side. For a second, Gary's muscles tense and it looks like he's going to spring at her. Then, after a few intense seconds, Gary morphs back into his human self, who's sitting cross-legged on the floor with a hand on his smiling face in defeat.

"Fine, I'm sorry."

Kale grins and offers a hand. "Thanks."

He takes it and when he's standing he begins to laugh.

"Huh, I got served by a girl. Usually only Jena can make me apologize to her, and that's only after hand-to-hand combat." He shakes his head warily, a slight grimace on his face. "But you know what, you're pretty cool. Looks like I won't be messing with you no more, huh?"

Kale laughs. "Guess so." Then she turns back to everyone, but her eyes lock with mine. "Now that my secret is out and it'd be stupid to pretend being a boy anymore, you can all call me by my actual name. Kaley, Kale with a 'y' on the end. And Kile, you can call me 'sis' once again bro."

I smile, which everyone seems to be doing a lot of today, and wrap an arm around her affectionately. "Good to see my sis again after five long years. You still hate girls?"

She sighs heavily. "I don't hate them, but I still think most of them are pathetic. Laurel, Jena, Steph, and Mel are fine I suppose. Truth is, I guess I'm a bit relieved that I don't have to pretend to be a guy anymore. Though the song 'Stupid Girls' by P!nk would be perfect for this situation… anyway, you don't understand how bad my chest hurts with the stupid under-armor I'm always wearing. I'm going to the bathroom now to get rid of it, but be prepared to meet a more feminine version of Kile." With a wave she walks off to the girl's bathroom on the left side of the church and I think Logan is faintly blushing.

"Are you sure that's your sis, dude? H— she's acting different." Patrick comments.

"That's _exactly_ how she used to act. Anyway, we just gunna sleep on the pews tonight?" I ask.

"Yep." Steph answers. "Also, I'm kind of hungry. Anybody else want an Olyberry?" Olyberries are berries about the size of a strawberry, the shape of a raspberry, and bright orange. One berry and you'll be full for at least six hours. You won't be thirsty either.

"Hey, pass me one?" Logan asks.

Stephanie throws one to him after handing them out and saving another for Kaley. "One's all you need."

A few minutes later everyone is settled on the pews. Logan has a mattress and blankets for himself, and he offers us blankets too, but we decline. The clothes we're wearing keep us the perfect temperature, mostly.

I am about to lie down when Kaley walks back into the room. Most of the people in the room turn to look at her, and I burst out laughing when I see myself as a girl.

Kaley ruffled her hair so it now looks an inch longer than mine. She discarded the under-armor so now she looks a little more… womanly. Also, her eyes look a little wider and she's not so stiff looking.

Shaun can't help but laughing to. "Oh wow, you look funny!"

"Funny how Shaun?"

The tone in her voice stops him from laughing. "I said nothing."

"That's what I thought. Kile I'm sleeping next to you bro!" She calls from the other side of the room.

Logan stares at her from where he's sitting and looks away nonchalantly as she walks by. Ahh, young love!

Kaley lies in the pew next to mine and lies on her back, her arms behind her head like a pillow. "Hey Logan, didn't you say monsters come to mess with you?" She calls.

He shouts back, "We were lucky today I guess!"

Minutes later all I can hear is the breathing of my friends. Kaley is already asleep, a smile on her face. This is so nice, I think. Got my sis back and I have a whole lot more friends than I've had my entire life. Kaley too.

After another few minutes, I finally drift off to sleep.

-Leave Him Alone-

A large crash jerks me away from my sleep.

"Hey runt, what'cha doing with guests sleeping here? These people your friends?" a thundering voice bellows from the church entrance.

I turn to see a large light blue scaly person in almost-full body armor holding a club. He's with two monsters that are identical, but half his size. The little ones are at least six feet tall, but the big one looks like it could barely fit through the large doors. They all have a snout for a noise and long filthy hair, so I guess when I said they were people I was exaggerating a bit.

The rest of my friends wake up and are standing armed, even if they still are half asleep.

"Oh, what'cha got here?" He squints at all our faces. "Two girls even? Wait, three? Just enough for my friends and I."

"Ha, in your dreams ugly!" Jena shouts, a large blood dog taking shape in front of her.

Kaley crosses her arms and rolls her eyes. "Another reason being a girl sucks, all the creeps seem to go for us. And leave him alone!"

"Go away Ben, we don't want trouble." Logan stands up and walks in front of my friends and I. He's not right before him, but he's closer than anyone else here.

"Ha, what kind of name is Ben?" Patrick laughs. "Boring~" He sings.

Ben snorts and readies his club, rearing it back with two bulky arms.

The next following moments are breath-taking.

Ben swings hit club and right before it makes contact with Logan he springs high into the air. He does a twist and lands neatly on the ground a foot away from where the club had hit. Ben roars angrily and tries to punch him, but he darts forward and uses his large claws and rakes then across Ben's exposed leg. He howls and Logan narrowly escapes a stomping foot. It looks for a moment that Logan will get him to leave, when all of a sudden his lackeys pounce on him. One of them sits on his legs and another holds his arms at his side.

Logan blows the hair out of his eyes and appears to be quite calm in his situation. "This is why I always lose. He has to go and cheat. If we had a fair fight he'd be down in minutes."

With a thumb and fore finger he picks up Logan by the neck and holds him close to his face. "Scrawny little runt, I don't do fair. But I do other things. If you let me borrow those girls over there I'll leave." He grins maliciously.

Kaley opens her mouth, closes it, opens it again, and decides to close it again also. Finally, she just gives a frustrated yell. "Can you just kick his sorry blue ass and get him outta here?"

Logan tries to stifle a laugh and fails. "Okay then love~ whatever you wish!"

My sis's eyes widen and her face turns a light shade of pink, but otherwise nods.

With a battle cry he sinks his claws into Ben's fingers then kicks off against them. When he lands on the ground, Shaun hurls a dozen knives at Ben's face.

Over half of then imbed in in his cheek and one hits him in the eye. While he rages and yells some very naughty words, Stephanie sends arrows at one of the lackeys. Jena and Gary go for the other one as Patrick makes to help Logan and Shaun.

"Kaley," I whisper to her from where she stands beside me, "don't you feel so useless right now? I mean, it's not our fault we don't have any powers yet, but if we could do something I'd feel better. Get what I mean?"

"Yep." She answers. "If there was just a way to figure out what our powers are or if we could use them offensively…"

"Yeah."

Suddenly a wooden pew is pulled out of the floor by a bloody looking Ben and is hurled towards us.

We both cry out as the harsh impact knocks us into another pew, which splinters from the force and the thrown pew lands on top of us.

"Let's leave them to scurry buddies!" I hear scarcely as three hulking bodies run through the church door and their voices fade away.

Then, from where I lie pinned under the pew next to my sis, I see smoke rising towards the large glass ceiling of the church.

Stephanie's voice breaks the silence in the air as she shouts out instructions. "Jena, Gary, and Logan: help me pull this pew off them before the fire gets out of control. Shaun, drag Patrick out of here then come back and assist us! God, if only I had sidestepped that stupid monster, then Patrick wouldn't be unconscious and he could just lift it off…"

"Nothing you can dwell on about now!" Jena informs harshly. "Just hurry!"

So… Kaley and I are stuck under a giant hunk of wood while the church is somehow on fire. Ain't that just fantastic?

-Stop and Stare-

Turns out that the pews weigh a lot and the smoke of the fire doesn't help at all when you're trying to get work done. From what the others are saying, a third of the church is up in flames. We just have all the luck, don't we?

"Kile, I can't breathe. Dammit Kile I can't breathe!" Kaley wheezes from less than a foot away.

"I can breathe fine for now, why can't you… oh my gosh." My eyes widen as I notice blood seeping from Kaley's jacket. Stretching my arm over to her awkwardly I barely manage to unzip the army jacket and open it up halfway to see why she's bleeding.

"What—what is i-it?" She stutters, tears rimming her eyes.

"One of your ribs is poking through… oh god that doesn't look good. Hurry up!" I holler at our friends.

"What?" I hear a voice answer back. "We're doing the best we can!"

"You don't hurry and the smoke fumes will kill me and blood loss will kill Kaley before the fire!"

Light gray smoke starts seeping around my sister and me. I close my eyes tightly, but even so they feel irritated. We both start to sweat as the temperature rises from warm, to uncomfortable, then to suffocating.

A few minutes later the weight is eased off of us and I stand up shakily. Kaley tries to stand up but cries out and reaches to grab her stomach, but stops when she realizes she'll just end up hurting herself more.

Before any of my friends can touch her _I_ lift her up. She whimpers and tries to twist away from me, but I don't let her. The group of us run away from the building and as we do I notice how pale my sis getting.

Carefully I place her on the ground next to an unconscious Patrick, who has an ugly gash on his forehead, and look up at Stephanie. Pulling up Kaley's shirt slightly and pointing at the bloodied mess, I motion for her to do something. "What're you waiting for? Help her!" It hurts as I yell that because I'm sure I breathed in a good amount of smoke before rushing out of the building.

She appears shocked by my outburst. "But I don't know how to deal with this! Laurel could if she were here, but I don't—"

"Hey Kile, looks like I don't need help."

Kaley smiles up at me and points to her side. The bone that was once sticking through her is gone, and only a small hole in her side can be seen. Amazingly, the wound was healing itself.

"Stop and stare bro, but it kind of makes sense… some kind of sense. You can't feel pain and I heal it. Lucky, aren't we?" She mutters, and then looks behind me with huge eyes.  
>"Whoa, what happened to the church?"<p>

I turn to see the once tall standing church behind us now being used as firewood for the flames that dance around it. Crackling noises and hissing can be heard from the building, and the light illuminates the dark night.

"I knew candles weren't a good idea." Logan shakes his head sadly. "The ruckus got them knocked over and now my home's gone." After a few long silent moments, he grins and looks at me. "Just all the more reason for me to help with your quest isn't it? Nothing holding me back from trying my best."

"Oh and that reminds me," Kaley stares at Logan from where she's lying on the ground. With a teasing grin and a British accent, she asks, "My love?"

"I…" That's all Logan says before his face is feeling as warm as the fire and he looks away.

-Truth or Boredom?-

A few hours later, after lounging around watching the church burn down, Patrick finally wakes up. He got hit pretty bad, his hair still somewhat incrusted in blood and the gash settling right above his right eye. He was lucky, it stopped less than a tenth of a centimeter from his eye, and that would have been _really_ bad.

Kaley is totally fine, currently engrossed in a deep conversation about anime with Logan.

"Oh my god I cried when Matt was shot! It was so unfair!" She exclaims passionately, currently discussing Death Note.

"I know! He was one of my favorites… so cool. But you know, I hated how the series ended. Light should have won!"

"No way! Light was bad, even though his ideas were sort of understandable. Kira deserved to be brought to justice!"

"Kira forever!"

"L, Mello, Matt, and Near forever! Justice always prevails!"

"You won't win this argument, Ouran High School Host Club lover!"

"I will, Claymore lover!"

"Nuh-uh, Blue Exorcist lover!"

"You did not just insult my Rin did you? You—you Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood lover!"

"Uh, you love that show too!"

"I know, isn't it epic?"

They go on loudly about Bleach for about an hour before drifting off asleep for the rest of the night.

The next day we spend all our time walking. It's very boring, but we decide to get to know each other more on the way.

"Can we play a game or something? One more minute of silence and I'm going to start beating one of you up for the heck of it." Gary says.

"I have an idea!" Logan shouts. "Let's play Truth or Dare, but without the 'Dare' option! It'll be fun."

"Good idea." Agrees Stephanie. "So Kile, who is cooler? Me or Patrick?"

"Sorry Steph, but knocking me out with a dart gun isn't cool. Patrick the axe wielding artist gets my vote."

"Ha!" Patrick brags.

"My turn then," I announce. "Gary, who's the better guitar player? You or Jena?" I heard from Stephanie they both play the guitar, and I was curious who'd be better in a band.

"Me." He answers right away.

"Liar." Jena defends.

"Doesn't matter, my turn now." He turns to Kaley with a smirk. "Who's more attractive? Me, or lover-boy over there?" He jabs a thumb toward Logan.

With a sneer she says, "Logan's much more appealing than you wolfy." Then, realizing what she just said, she blushes a deep scarlet. "I—I pass my question onto Jena…" She grumbles hurriedly and walks faster to avoid a wide-eyed Logan. Hehehe, aren't WTF faces priceless?

"Gary, stop messing with her, you'll just end up getting served again." His maniac laughter is cut short and he stares at the ground as we continue to walk. "Anyway, Logan… hmm, what to ask? Ah, why did you live in an abandoned church?"

"And you yell at me for asking stupid questions." Gary mutters.

"Because my older sister and I used to visit there all the time, till Ben and his buddies started bothering us. Eventually my sister and everyone else stopped coming, so I decided to take care of it. That, and Ben would have went after my sister it I didn't. That creep thinks I'm his punching bag." Logan answers calmly and coolly, unfazed by the question. "My turn. Shaun, why are you so quiet all the time? Are you mute?"

Shaun rolls his eyes. "No, I'm not—"

"Praise the lord everyone, he can speak!" Logan shouts.

We all take a moment to laugh before Shaun asks Patrick a question. "I really have nothing to ask, so… who's beast at drums?"

Patrick shakes his head and chuckles. "You are my dear friend."

"Just making sure."

"Okay, and Stephanie… have you ever once kissed a blue giraffe while skiing down a mountain of chocolate?"

We all stare at him.

"What?"

Stephanie just rolls her eyes. "No, I have yet to do that. When I do though, I'll be sure to inform you."

As you can see, the day can't get much duller.

-Don't Eat That!-

A few hours after playing Truth or Truth, we are bored once again. Just as I am about to say this, a small light pink fruit catches my eye. I pluck it off the bush it's hanging on, and being as irresponsible as I am, pop it into my mouth.

Faintly I hear Logan yelling out "Oh no!" but everything goes fuzzy after that. After a moment of blackness, my vision blurs and the following happens.

"OH MY GOD! ISN'T THE WORLD SO BEAUTIFUL? WITH ALL THE BLUES, GREENS, AND OTHER COLORS IT'S LIKE LIVING IN A BUCKET OF MULTI-COLORED PAINT!" I shout.

My sister looks at me incredulously before asking, "What just happened?"

Logan sighs and answers, "He ate a Dae-berry. It's not as back as the name suggests, it just means he's on a sugar rush."

"KALEY, DID I EVER TELL YOU HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU? IN FACT, I LOVE EVERYONE HERE LIKE FAMILY! EXCEPT FOR LOGAN OF COURSE, HE'S MY STEP-BROTHER OR SOMETHING." I say in one long breath.

Kaley gags and looks away from a smirking Logan.

Patrick puts a hand on my shoulder. "Dude, are you okay enough to walk? We still need to get going ya' know."

"WHY YES MY DEAR FRIEND! TALLY HO THEN BATMAN," I point at Kaley, "YOU CAN BE PIGEON!"

"Don't you mean Robin?"

"I'M NOT THE JOKER SO JUST LEAVE MY PLANS ALONE! HEY—" I stop suddenly, then continue with a maniac grin. "EVERYONE GUESS WHAT I JUST THOUGHT ABOUT!" When no one responds I continue. "THE SNEAKY LEPRECHAUN STOLE THE RABBITS SECRET SUPPLY OF TRIXS AND NOW HE'S-A GUNNA STARVE!"

"Bro," Kaley says, "you have to calm down."

"OMIGOSH JENA IS THAT GLITTER IN YOUR EYES OR IS THAT SPARKLE NATURAL?"

"What?" She questions.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" I point an accusing finger at Shaun, who jumps.

"What did I do?"

"YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID!" Suddenly I start laughing hysterically, bouncing up and down. Suddenly I stop and look to the ground sadly. "Why can't I go ghost like Danny Phantom?" Then all of a sudden, I gesture upwards. My friends all look up confused and I start giggling. "LOOK, A FLAMING RAINBOW!" But there really isn't anything there.

"This is so awesome." Gary states, a hand at his face to cover his wide and amused grin.

"YOU REALLY DO CARE!" The compulsion to give Gary a 'guy-hug' overwhelms me and I wrap my arms around him.

"Dude, get off me!" He tries to pry my arms from his waist, but to no avail.

"THIS IS LIKE ON THAT SHOW SCRUBS!" Without another word I begin singing. "OH IT'S GUY LOVE, BETWEEN TWO GUYS~!"

"Stop! Just… stop." Gary pleads.

"OKAY! BUT YOU KNOW, THERE'S NOTHING GAY ABOUT I—"

"Please!"

"FINE!"

-Who are Yew?-

The next day my sugar-high wears off and things are tense as we approach where the Princess should be. You can tell by the scenery that the Dark Forest really lived up to its name. The trees are dead, all the leaves still hanging on to the trees dead and shriveled like little black snakes. There is no grass, just dirt and the occasional mud pit. The air is thinner and it takes a little more effort to breathe. Also, no noises can be heard, unlike when we were walking and you could clearly hear birds chirping and other sounds.

Quite the drastic change if you ask me.

"Hey guys, I'm tired. Can we rest for like ten seconds please?" Jena asks, but already proceeding to sit on the ground.

"Only for a few minutes. Here, have and Olyberry." Stephanie passes her one and sits down beside her.

Stretching, I put an arm on a dead tree.

"Wait don't—" Patrick warns from where he's standing a few feet away, but I don't hear him.

A cold feeling travels up my arm and straight into my head, visions of horrible things flashing before my eyes. Someone sewing a child's mouth shut and someone else scooping a man's eyes out of his head with a spoon.

Suddenly, Patrick wrenches me away from the tree and grasps my shoulders, looking into my eyes. "Are you okay?"

Shaking my head, I answer, "I uh, um, guess so. What just happened?"

Patrick opens his mouth to speak when Shaun jumps up from where he is and explains for him. "The trees here are bonded with the souls of the dead. If a living person touches a tree they will see the soul in their final moments. Usually, it's not so good."

"I agree, it was like watching something from a horror movie or something." I say, but face-palm when I see Kaley deliberately place a hand on a tree.

"What is she doing?" Patrick asks in disbelief.

I shrug. "She likes horror movies."

Logan, from where he's sitting, just laughs and gets up, heading over to my sister. He watches her impassive face turn ghostly pale, then removes her hand from the tree.

"Eww, now that was some messed up stuff." She shutters. "Poor guy had a vivisection while he was still alive…" She frowns sadly. "Now I'm all depressed."

"You're just an idiot." I mumble, then notice everyone is up and ready to go.

Stephanie walks over to us and announces we are about two miles from where the Princess is supposed to be. "It's odd though, you'd think, even from behind, there would be protection around the premises."

"Let's just get going." Jena says impatiently. "The sooner we rescue her royal highness the sooner I can get a decent meal."

"No way, there has to be a trap. There is NO WAY we could have just walked straight into this large fully-enforced prison and found the Princess." Gary rants as we look at a cell where the Princess is chained, gagged, and knocked out.

"You're right; there must be a trap somewhere…?" Stephanie murmurs.

It's true, I think to myself. We found the prison quite easily, a large black and white striped building in the middle of nowhere. We walked through an unlocked fence and the doors, then proceeded to find the Princesses chamber almost immediately. Something's wrong here.

That's when I notice that the door to the prison is now latched shut, when it had been wide open less than a minute ago. Also, I notice a light colored fog drifting on the ceiling and curling around our feet.

"Guys," I say urgently. "There's…" but before I can say anything else, my breathe catches and I fall backwards. The last thing I see is the same thing happening to all my friends.

"Ugh…" I groan as I survey my surroundings.

I am lying in the middle of a somewhat large dirt clearing, about the size of a football field but a little smaller. There are white and black striped brick walls surrounding the field on all sides, a large closed metal door being the only way out. Looking up, I notice there is no ceiling, but on the walls there are cameras. Obviously, we are in the same prison we thought to have infiltrated who know how long before.

"Hey, finally someone else is awake."

I turn to see Jena and all my friends lying on the ground behind me, only Jena is awake with her eyes wide open.

"Classic sleeping gas, a shame my boyfriend didn't pick up its scent quickly enough." She pulls herself into a sitting position and motions to everyone else. "Wanna help me wake them up?"

I nod and rouse Kaley, Shaun, and Stephanie as Jena screams at Patrick, Logan, and Gary to 'Wake up you lazy bitches!'

When we're all awake and realize what happened, we aren't sure what to do.

"Do you suppose this Yew guy will show himself?" Kaley asks irritated.

Suddenly, a yellow gas creeps out from nowhere and envelopes us, knocking us out once more.

When I wake up once again, I notice my friends and I are tied by the ankles to a large piece of metal now lying across the once open skylight of the prison. When I drop my eyes down to the floor, I gasp. You'd gasp too if the first thing you saw when you woke up from being imprisoned was a large blue pew thrower with a club and revenge-complex staring daggers at you.

Crap.

And why are we all upside down? Is that really necessary?

Glancing around side to side, which is dizzying when all the blood is rushing to your head, I notice almost all my friends and my sis are awake, dangling silently. The last one to wake up is Logan, who had acquired a large bruise on his cheek somehow.

"Hey, the brat is awake!" Ben calls and comes face to face with us. Huh, he's just tall enough to be able to laugh in our upside-down faces. Ironic or what? He must have given Logan the bruise as revenge from before.

"Benjamin, please refrain from touching them. You wouldn't want anything to happen to you like what happened to your friends, would you?" A bone-chilling voice asks with a hint of glee.

Ben glares at us, especially Logan, but takes a few steps back. "I'm doing this because I want to, not because you told me to." He mumbles incoherently.

"Anywho," continued the mystery voice, "as pretentious a person I am, though I am quite academically enhanced, I cannot gabber for long. So, without farther a due, I introduce myself." A tall lean figure in black jeans and white dress shirt steps out from out of nowhere. He is so pale you can see the blood coursing through him as if his skin is transparent. His hair is a bright white, eyes, even from how far away he is, glow a dark red. Huh, albino?

"I," he bows gracefully, "am Yew, outcast of Amity, the Princesses captor, and, Queen Chloe's son."

-Get Out Alive-

He stand there smiling triumphantly for a moment, then frowns at us. What, is he expecting us to gasp?

"Hmm, not very surprised… but disregarding that unfortunate fact, I'd like to ask you a few questions, if I may."

Why is he asking us if he can ask questions? Weirdo…

"But of course if you don't feel like obliging," he continues lazily, "then I have no other choice than to execute every one of you." After a few seconds of nobody speaking, he nods. "Let's begin then, shall we? First, I would like you to introduce yourselves to me."

We turn our heads towards each other, no one wanting to go first. Stephanie cracks after muttering 'I am the leader… sadly…'

"I'm Stephanie." She states simply, trying to ignore the fact that she's still upside down while doing so.

"I'm Patrick." He continues.

After Gary, Shaun, Jena, Logan, me, and Kaley introduce ourselves, Yew claps his hands. "Excellent, a pleasure it is to meet you all. Now my next question, were you attempting to rescue Amity's Princess when I first caught you in her holding cell a couple of hours ago?"

Stephanie answers again. "Yes, we were. We are under the orders of the Queen to return her daughter to her at all costs."

"I understand. How unfortunate that is. Let me ask, if the circumstances were different, would you still be following the Queen's orders?"

"Well, um… that's sort of hard to answer. The only reason any of us are on this mission, is because if we didn't go we'd be exiled or imprisoned for life. If it weren't for Kaley," she gestures to her (who is ironically the farthest person from her), "we wouldn't have gone on this quest. Kaley unwillingly was chosen to go, and we all just had to help."

"I believe this is fate!" Yew bursts out. We gape at him as he does a small little dance. "I just knew there was a reason that I kept you children alive!" A mad chuckle escapes him as he pulls out a wireless remote. He presses a few buttons and suddenly the iron catwalk-like bar holding us upside shudders. It lowers quite quickly.

All of us are screaming, except for Kaley, who is laughing, enjoying the ride. Within seconds we stop falling, stopping just low enough to where Yew can almost meet most of our eyes.

"You were all sent to me by fate, I know it!" Ben huffs a laugh as Yew excitedly goes on. "You may not know it yet, but you're all really here to help with my goal for a new world order. That must be it…" He drops off, eyes far away.

At least ten minutes pass before he speaks again. "I must say I have an idea! There are too many of you to meet my standards of right-hand guard. Also, if all of you live there will be hopes in your hearts for escape, which won't be happening, ever. So let's play a little game based on the whole 'survival of the fittest' category. Ben, if you would please leave for the time being?" Yew asks as he presses a button on his remote and the doors open.

"Whatever you say." Ben grumbles, staggering out of the room. The doors close behind him.

"Now let's begin!" Yew spreads his arms wide, like a circus ring-leader, and presses another button on his handy-dandy remote.

Without warning the whole area starts to shake erratically, causing everyone to swing and bump into each other involuntarily. Small square openings appear on either side of the room, resulting in white and black bricks to litter the ground slightly. Then, something that is both funny and terrifying happens.

Animals and mythical creatures seem to pour out of the opening, all with a wide look in their eyes and foam falling from their mouths. Zebras, cats, dogs, penguins, skunks, dinosaurs, unicorns, snakes, and pandas to be precise. All of them are colored the same as the building and Yew, black and white.

Obviously this guy is a bit off his nut. One 'seriously crazed up fruitloop', eh? …Danny Phantom is timeless…

Yew presses yet another button and the ropes holding us up are released, leading to us all falling painfully from about six feet in the air.

"I'll stop the attack once only one is left. The animals are expendable, so killing them isn't against any morals. Anyway, good luck! Get out alive if you can!" And with that he walks out, leaving us to our fate.

-One Fatal Wound-

"Guys, follow my lead!" Stephanie shouts, automatically getting into battle mode.

"Hold on a second Steph!" Jena says, letting a few drops of blood drop onto the ground. A very large Apatosaurus, a dinosaur with a very long neck, takes form. It bends its head and lays out its tail, creating a path to the small iron beam we had been attached to moments before. "We need to get up there first so we won't get overrun!"

Jena hops onto her scarlet colored dinosaur and climbs up to the beam. It's only about a foot wide, so it's not exactly the safest place to be, but better than nothing.

"Fine. Everyone follow Jena and get up there!" We obey, seeing the crowd of animals rapidly approaching us.

Kaley and I hold on for dear life when we situate ourselves. Gary curses silently, not being able to fight from a distance. Logan also is bored, swinging his dangling feet over the mass of animals and monsters. Stephanie and Shaun launch an attack with arrows and knives, while Jena has a few blood comrades helping her. Meanwhile, Patrick fends off the bigger monsters with his axe, still trying to remain balanced on the beam.

For a few minutes, everything is under control. Monsters and animals left and right are being slayed, despite how wrong that is (but we're fighting for our lives!), and we feel somewhat safe.

That is, until a very murderous looking panda grabs Jena's ankle.

"AHH!" She screams, trying to hang on to Stephanie, who is beside her, for dear life. Before anything else can be done, Gary leaps onto the panda's face.

The panda lets go of Jena's leg, which is bleeding slightly, and a loud sort of screaming noise is made by it. Within seconds, three more panda's back up the first one.

Gary succeeds in killing the first panda, but one of his hind legs (since he previously transformed into a wolf) is dangling loosely. Broken or just dislocated, things aren't looking good for him. Stephanie and Shaun want to help, but they don't want to risk hurting Gary even more.

All as this is occurring, a black cat, the size of a fully grown mountain lion, jumps high into Logan. He tumbles off his perch and upon instinct starts to fight back.

Kaley and I watch utterly horrified by what is happening. Thoughts rush though my head like no one's business… except for mine of course. Why did we have to be stuck with such crappy powers? I mean, Kaley's helped her already, but mine won't help! If I were to get my leg chopped off I wouldn't feel it, but I'd still die, so what's the use?

Now we're all going to die. Even if one of us survives, the rest will have been slaughtered. I'm not going to survive, I think. But before I die a painless death, I'll have to watch my friends die… they will leave me.

I physically freeze at the thought, realizing something.

I'm not afraid of my friends or my sister dying, or even myself. I'm afraid of any of them leaving me. (THERE IS A DIFFERENCE!)

"Kaley, we need to help them!" I exclaim, waving my hands in the air.

Ignoring her pleas I let myself drop from the beam and pick up one of Shaun's knives from the ground. I pick it up in time to raise it at a large monkey-like monster.

It feints a punch to my head. Instinctively, I raise my arms to shield my face. As I do this, it swings its oversized fist back and then delivers a powerful blow right into my gut. With a quiet _whoosh_, my breath leaves me. But it doesn't hurt. So with no regrets I gouge the knife into the beast's neck, its dark blood staining my army get-up red.

Sadly, before I can be proud something crashes into my head with the force of a speeding train.

The last thing I think is: FAIL!

-All is Dark- (last chapter/epilouge)

When I wake up, it's in a large regal room. From beside me I see Logan, looking relieved that I was awake. "Thank god you woke up, you gave everyone a scare. You've been out for five days!" He exclaims.

I just give him a look of puzzlement. "What happened?"

"Okay, this really large penguin hit you in the head! You were knocked out right when Laurel came! She came in and was all badass and saved—" He stops, suddenly looking sad. "Anyway, she restrained all of the animals with her vines and we got the Princess back. It took us two days of carrying you to get back here, Amity, and have the Queen's royal doctors look at you. Everyone is healthy and rested now. You had a broken rib and a mild concussion, but it's fine. Anyway, everyone is going to be so happy you're awake."

"Where's Kaley?"

Logan appears to visibly pale as he shakes his head. "When you got knocked out and right before Laurel showed up to save the day, she jumped in front of a unicorn that was about to impale you. ((Kennedy: Can't you just picture that?)) It went right through her heart; she couldn't be saved by us or herself. She saved you."

"AN EFFING UNICORN KILLED MY SISTER?" I scream as tears run down my face.

"…yeah…"

There is an uncomfortable silence.

"But you're allowed to live here in the castle, you have a room and everything…" he offers.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"But I have one more thing to do before I forget Kaley.

*In the Dark forest*

I spend over three days reliving people's deaths in the Dark Forest. I'm not even sure how I stayed sane. But finally, I found the tree with my sister's soul in it.

"**Kile!" She screamed as the dark black mythical creature sped towards me, horn lowered and sharper than any knife I'd seen.**

**With a desperate move she sprang in front of me, eyes closed, as the horn pierced her heart. A trail of blood leaked from her mouth and a bunch of the red liquid ran from her chest, but she still has the energy to say one last thing.**

"**Kile, I told you I'd never let another loved one die."**

With great sadness, I pull me hand away from the tree. "You're right Kaley… you're right."


End file.
